Updates and Information on upcoming events from the alumni association.
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On February 15, one of my dreams came true. I was offered admission in the Post Graduate Program in Management at the ISB’s Mohali campus. Next couple of months flew away in doing a knowledge transfer in the company, arranging for the best educational loan, completing the admission formalities and most importantly, in trying to get to know my future classmates.
Initially, there was an apprehension about the status of the Mohali campus and the facilities that would be made available to us but the regular updates from the admissions team helped us in getting rid of the anxiety.
April 14 marked the beginning of the orientation week, commonly known as the O-week. We were greeted by the beautiful tricity of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula. Our stay in nice hotels adequately compensated for the fact that accommodation within the campus was not ready. We were overwhelmed by the warmth, concern and passion shown by the Dean, Deputy Dean, founders, alums and staff from the moment we set feet on the campus.
For the next 7 days, we thoroughly enjoyed an overdose of 'gyaan', fun and excitement. The days were very well-organized to ensure an adequate mix of experience-sharing, process-understanding, ice-breaking sessions and partying - all in a relatively small timeframe. My best day was spent entirely in the field participating in multiple team-building and trust-building activities, which clearly demonstrated how working in a team will help us understand each other better and aptly allocate roles to accomplish difficult tasks. This ‘fun-filled learning’ included an IPL match, strategy games and case-simulation. We were particularly awestruck by the spectrum and depth of opportunities that we can involve ourselves in. We were asked to submit an assignment in the early hours one morning and it later turned out that it was a prank played by our alums. Very taxing (on our already sleep-deprived souls) prank indeed! The week ended with a Talent Night where everyone was amazed by another form of diversity staged with exceptional performances, colours and lights. We all are humbled and hugely motivated by our alums who took out their time and worked selflessly in ensuring that we are well-accustomed and fully prepared for the year of our lives. They made us feel like an essential part of the entire ISB community.
One would never imagine the change we went through when the classes started in the subsequent week. One would see tensed and anxious faces running around in trying to understand the pre-reads for the courses, figuring out which books to purchase and getting their laptops configured. In each of the courses, we were met with excellent and globally-acclaimed faculty, who made us understand difficult concepts with relative ease. During the weekend, we again had an exceptional experience as a part of Leadership Development Program, where we came across our 360 degree feedback report, helping us understand our strengths to capitalize on and the weaknesses to overcome. We also played a simulation game and a case study, which helped us understand various intricacies of running a business.
During these two weeks, I also made a few close friends from diverse backgrounds- defence officers, family business, entrepreneurs and sales and marketing experts. I am proud to be a part of the founding class at the Mohali campus and keenly look forward to shoulder the responsibilities we 'founders' have.
As I write, we are already done with two weeks of the 51 week roller-coaster, as alums fondly called it, and we are thoroughly enjoying the ride.